Agritech startups Sabziwala and LivLush merge their business under new entity Kamatan

Kamatan is headed by Sabziwala founder Pravesh Sharma, a former IAS officer who had served as secretary, agriculture in the Madhya Pradesh governmentMugdha Variyar | ET Bureau | Updated: March 15, 2018, 08:57 IST

Elevar Equity-backed agritechstartupsSabziwala and LivLush (earlier known as Green AgTech) have merged the businesses under a new entity Kamatan. The rationale to create the entity was to merge the domains of farmer connect and supply-chain technology to ensure better pricing for farmers and to reduce wastage.

The entity is headed by Sabziwala founder Pravesh Sharma, a former IAS officer who had served as secretary, agriculture in the Madhya Pradesh government, and as managing director of the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium of the government of India.

Elevar had invested in Sabziwala in February 2017 and in LivLush in November 2016. It will put in more money into the new entity, Elevar India managing director Sandeep Farias told ET.

Farias said the merger was mainly to bring the domain expertise of the two companies under one roof — the deep farmer connect of Sabziwala and the supply chain logistics of LivLush. Kamatan’s focus will be to empower farmers with meaningful price data aimed at significantly improving the income levels of farmers.

Elevar Equity, the sole institutional investor in both companies, will continue to be the lead institutional investor in the new entity. Majority stake is still controlled by the promoters. “This is the first instance of two teams within our portfolio to come together in the interests of the end customer and drive synergistic value,” Farias said. The founders were unavailable for comment.